Sunlight Community Church, Port St Lucie, FL

Our Sunlight GEMS Girls Club collected hundreds of donations for local homeless residents in Saint Lucie County and packed 77 Blessing Bags and Socks of Love at their annual Christmas Party this year.

Multiple service projects have been planned throughout the year as an extension of the GEMS 2014-2015 theme …Bring the Message based on the call to serve from Isaiah 6:8. “Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?” And I said, “Here am I. Send me!”

Bags were filled with personal items such as toothpaste and toothbrushes, hand sanitizer, crew socks, Chap-sticks, Band-Aids, toilet paper, deoderant and more. The girls also made hand decorated cards with notes of encouragement for each individual bag.

At the Christmas party, the girls rotated through different stations enjoying group games, cookie decorating, crafts and packing bags for local residents in need.

GEMS meetings return to 2nd and 4th Mondays in January 2015. For more information about GEMS Girls Club, visit their webpage here or contact Club Coordinator, Karyn Dekker, via email at karyn9924@aol.com.

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Now that our new building is well under way, many have been asking: “What are the plans for the old building?”

The answer is we don’t exactly know yet. There are many ideas and suggestions, but at this moment there are no firm design plans. The remodel of our existing sanctuary, offices and church classrooms will come sometime after the phase III expansion of the fellowship hall.

In the meantime, we are very excited to make creative use of the space that is opening up!

We are happy to announce that this fall we will be temporarily transforming the old sanctuary into The Sunlight Kids Campground to be used for a new Kid’s Church program at the 9:30 service as well as for other children’s ministry programs.

This installation will include large pop-up tents for small groups, fold-able picnic tables for crafts and snack areas, and a stage set up with a campfire, lawn chairs, a few pine trees, and perhaps a canoe.

The entire installation will be portable and or fold-able to quickly be taken down when the space needs to be used for other events.

To get a better idea, here’s a photo from Passion City Church in Atlanta from whom we got the fun idea for this great kids space.

Looking forward to a fun fall ahead at The Sunlight Kids Campground!

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Gina’s story is a powerful one of faith through difficult circumstances. Gina and her twin brother, Gino, were placed into foster care and group homes at a very young age. After 14 placements, Gina’s message is not one of despair but of hope and love in Jesus Christ.

We are thankful that Gina’s journey has brought her here to be a part of our Children’s Ministry Team at Sunlight.

Miss Gina serves in many areas of ministry. You may see her in Sunday School, greeting folks at check-in while taking attendance, or taking care of little ones in the nursery. Gina serves at our fall festivals, shares the love of Christ at local visits to nursing homes, and served as a student missionary last summer in Puerto Rico.

Gina serves wherever needed, whenever needed. She is also active in Sunlight’s youth group, works hard at a part time job and still finds the time to be an excellent student who is graduating early this year! Her future plans include pursuing a career in nursing.

We are thankful for Gina’s beautiful smile, her joyful laugh, her willing heart, and her strong faith.

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Miss Kaylee is one of our weekly Sunday School teachers as well as a Preteen leader at Sunkids. She also serves as a crew leader for VBS.

Today she stood in as worship leader for Preschool Chapel too!

Kaylee has performed in many musical productions at the IRSC Performing Arts Academy and is also active in the theater department of her local high school. We are thankful she is sharing her many talents here with our Sunlight Kids.

In the future, Kaylee will be going on a mission trip to the Dominican Republic with Sunlight’s youth group and is considering a career in full time ministry after college.

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Our preschool through first grade classes look forward to a visit with Ollie the Owl each week during our story time in Sunday School and also at Chapel on Fridays.

Each week we visit “the clubhouse” and meet fun and engaging characters who tell us a Bible story.The videos are about 5 minutes long and are available at the First Look Blog for parents and kids to review.

I’ve included an article below about new changes to one of our favorite characters, and invite you to take a look behind the scenes of one of the tools we use in children’s programming here at Sunlight.

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This is the site of our new Nursery! Full of natural light and also includes a child size bathroom. As you can see, construction is well under way for our new Sanctuary, Offices, Classrooms and Nursery. Click here for a virtual tour.

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Joy is being content beyond our circumstances. We can have joy when we recognize that God’s plan is greater than our own. Our joy is a response to our trust in God.

So many of us spend our days chasing happiness – looking for that one thing that will finally make us happy. But when life takes a disappointing turn, happiness fades and we’re back on the hunt. This is where joy is different. Joy will thrive in life’s triumphs and endure through life’s challenges. Joy is a deep, sincere way to approach life that allows us to know that the hard times will make us stronger and draw us closer to God. Having joy may not mean always wearing a smile, but joy lets us reflect God’s love and shine through the dark moments in life.

This month, our 2nd – 5th grade Sunday School classes will be encouraged to think about how:

1. Choosing joy is not always easy.

2. The Bible challenges us to respond to life’s challenges with joy.

3. Showing joy in all circumstances proves that God is at work within us.

As Philippians 4:4 says: “Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice!” We can know that our God has the power to do things we can only imagine and can provide a solution even when we can’t see one. Therefore, our joy can always be in God, who can do anything.